Golden

I spent last weekend with my dear friend Hadley that I have known since I was 12. She lives even further south than I do and is expecting her first baby in January. I am thrilled for her and went down with little Hudson in tow to spend the weekend with her and help her register for baby items. We had a ball. We laughed, we ate, talked about nursing, breast pumps, baby swings, cribs, ate some more, lounged on the sofa while her sweet hubby literally waited on us, got pedicures, and retold hilarious high school stories. I love her laugh and I had forgotten how contagious it was and how nice it is to be in the comfort of an old and dear friend like her. I took this picture of this beautiful needlepoint that hung in the room I slept in. You know, its really true. There really is nothing sweeter than an old friend.

I failed to get my camera out until Sunday morning right before I was going to leave. Hadley refused to let me take a picture of her, but Hudson thought she was still a beauty even at 7:00 in the morning. They had been making goo-goo eyes at each other all weekend. Those two have a sweet little bond. Check out a real picture of her out here and all of her awesome talents too! She rocks when it comes to all things graphic design. 

And here is Hudson big as ever and a complete cutie. He would smile at the Devil. He is so sweet and a real blessing to have. 

Lord of the Flies

So if my wild boys were left to govern themselves, they may fair pretty well. 

Alder is feeding the baby adequately enough, Kingston is (as always) in his own world, and the littlest man appears to be quite in love and content being surrounded by his brothers. These pictures prove that if left to do about as they please there probably would be lots of nakedness, lollipops, laughter, and only the best for baby brother (note the box of organic rice cereal).

Brothers. 

They are wonderful.   

Fanatical about Hudson

Kingston is obsessed with Hudson. Obsessed. In fact, he is so obsessed that his intense love for his younger brother often gets him in trouble. I mean the babe can only take soooo many kisses, hugs, and cuddles and its usually a good thing to let littlest man breath every second or so. Kingston smothers him with his love. 

I took these yesterday after they had gotten up from their afternoon naps and they were snuggling with each other on the couch. Hudson by the way is about 19 lbs. and 5 months and Kingston is barely 25 lbs and 2 years old. 

Do you see the sheer excitement on Kingston's face below? Every time he sees Hudson, its like he is seeing him for the first time EVER. I love brothers.  

Thirty

Jared turned 30 at the end of July and I wanted to celebrate him by hosting a SURPRISE weekend at the lake with a few of his favorite people. I found a house on Lake Martin and gathered everyone together for a fun filled weekend of laughter, stories, teak surfing, eating, lounging, latte making, swimming, tubing, grilling, and more laughter. I cannot believe I got everyone together in the same place at the same time. It was awesome. Jared had no idea where we were driving on that Friday and who would be there. He was totally surprised and thrilled. We, the Youssefs, Browns, Joseph and Beth, Mikey Love and Christine, and us piled into the house with 3 nursing babies and I can safely say that none of us wanted to leave on that Sunday morning. I feel like I don't have many pictures due to being distracted by all the laughing and story telling (and running around fixing food and so on) but several there that weekend had cameras and my dear sister-n-law has a great slide show at the end of this post. You should click on the link to her post and the slide show. Great pictures and hilarious action shots.

Happy Birthday again sweet Hubby! 

Arrival of guests and meeting Ella May Youssef for the first time. Do you see her tiny legs in between Jared and Emily? Emily and Josh were such sports for coming and traveling with newborn little Ella May. 

 My goofy husband and his approval.

 The youngest Wingfield cousins. Hudson (4 months) and Hank (8 1/2 months) chilling together in the pack 'n play. No kids allowed except the ones who are attached to the boob. Sorry. Was that too much?  

Mikey Love, Jared's best friend from the age of about 12, being our pancake chef on Saturday morning. My boys call him Uncle Mikey. He rocks. 

 Hudson snuggling with Auntie T. We love sweet and always generous and loving Taylor. 

Boys at play.

 The boys trying to behave.

 The girlies laughing at the boys.

 Mikey Love and Joshie telling stories and becoming bffs.

Jared and his favorite cake I brought up to the lake. Carrot.

Link to Beth's Pictures below:

 http://bethjosephwingfield.blogspot.com/2011/08/jareds-30th-bday-at-lake.html

Its Hot.

I am a lover of a good article because an article is all that I get around to reading these days. I love to read an article and have it evoke strong feelings of the love of literature that I have, but have no time right now to "invest" in. Like I have the book "Edgar Sawtelle" on my night stand (that my Mom loaned me and swears is one of the greatest books she has ever read) that I have picked up a baker's dozen times but can't seem to read due to being in the 9 month of pregnancy, or having a newborn baby, or 3 children aged 3 and under, or feeling instead that I need to read some book titled "How to Train Up Your Children (without beating them or selling them on the side of the road)" and so therefore I fall asleep my first sentence into the book and most likely with drool running down my face in two minutes flat.  All of this to say that my latest love is Garden&Gun magazine. Its a literary jewel as far a magazines go and I have enjoyed reading it here and there when at my parent's house. Jared enjoys it as well and so for his 30th birthday (more on that soon so stay tuned) my parents gave him two years subscription to this fine magazine. On the road last weekend, I read the May issue that my parents had wrapped up for him with a card explaining their generous gift. The May issue of Garden&Gun is a special issue for us native "Chattanoogians" as they featured our sweet and pretty darn cool town as one of their main articles. Anyways, my point of this post is this article that I found among the pages. Its hilarious, so very true, and if you live in Alabama right now (I am sorry Mom and Dad you do not count or any other readers hailing from the Tennessee mountains. I know its hot there, but you live on a mountain and there is a breeze. We haven't had a breeze since January) then you will love and laugh with this read. 

Enjoy!

I did.

Here is the link again in case you missed the highlighted gray "this"

http://gardenandgun.com/article/daniel-wallace-great-indoorsman